


Question

by Maeve_Lynn



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Pain, Questions, RA Fanfic Challenge #3 (Ranger's Apprentice), Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25922590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_Lynn/pseuds/Maeve_Lynn
Summary: After a brave decision, Halt goes to his apprentice to talk with her, however, it's a bit more complicated than he had thought
Relationships: Halt O'Carrick & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8
Collections: RA Fanfiction Challenge #3





	Question

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure you've noticed that this fanfic has an unknown name in it and that's because it's an OC of myself. Since I never wrote about her before, I will give a small introduction so y'all know her a bit more and can place this fanfic in the timeline (heck, which one?) of the RA series.  
> Since we never really knew what happened in Will's 3rd and 4th year, I used that space to make my own little story and put Melany in the spotlights.
> 
> Melany is now a third year, almost fourth year apprentice. Halt is her mentor and she and Will study together.  
> During her third year, she has to endure some pretty hard moment which will have an influence on her future.  
> She's at the Gathering and what y'all will read, happens one evening at that Gathering.
> 
> I hope this will help to have a bit of an idea what the fanfic will be about  
> (For more, see the notes at the end)

There, she had told it. She had told everything of her history; her family, how she ended up in Araluen, how much she struggled to adapt to the new laws and how much it influenced her while growing up. Melany sighed and turned her gaze up, to look over the lake and see the sunset. The sky coloured orange and pink and it had something magical.

“It’s a pity that what I told them wasn’t that pretty,” she whispered to Laika. The wolf, which was laying next to her, lifted her head when she heard her name. She felt something was going on and shifted closer to Melany, laying her head on the girl’s lap.

Absentmindedly, the apprentice stroked her, while thinking of the other things she had said.

A shiver went down her spine as she relived the moment when she told about the last couple of weeks, of the things that happened and how hard it was for her. So hard, she-

A sound behind her made her stop thinking and she turned her head slightly to her left, looking from the corner of her eye to see who it was.

“I already thought I would find you here,” Halt said, slowly approaching her. After knowing for sure it was her mentor, Melany shifted her glance back to the sunset.

Halt stayed at a small distance before he sat next to her. He did know something about what had happened, as he was her teacher, but still, some details she had kept to herself. Until this evening. He was surprised when she requested that the Rangers, all of them, would stay longer after dinner. He had already felt that something was about to happen, but he hadn’t questioned it. But as soon as he heard what Melany was planning to do…

_“Mel, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, it’s the whole Corps we’re talking about!” Halt was distressed and it was visible; his voice was higher and his Hibernian accent had kicked in as well. Seeing that it had shocked his friend, Crowley was ready to turn around, but both the man and the girl had requested he would stay._

_“I know Halt, but I can’t keep it for myself any longer,” she replied, controlling her breathing and her heart that was beating in her throat._

_“I can’t bear the thought that only you, Will, Gilan and Crowley know this.”_

_“Maybe,” Halt said, “but it’s not nothing Melany. Are you really sure of it? Maybe you should…” He felt how Crowley laid a hand on his shoulder._

_“Halt, if she wants to, she can.”_

_The Commandant saw how much his friend was against it, but Melany was an adult and could make her own decisions. And if she wanted to tell it, then who were they to stop her?_

_“Earlier today we already talked about this and truth to be said, if she thinks she’s ready, then we should support her as much as we can.”_

_Seeing both the redheads looking at him with a confident glance in their eyes, Halt couldn’t do anything else than agree with them._

Halt shook his head and walked the last meters to her before sitting on the grass, on her left side. They didn’t say anything, just looked to the horizon.

“You know,” Halt started with a low and soft voice, “what you did was very brave.”

Before, Melany would have blushed immediately when getting a compliment from Halt, but ever since what happened the last weeks, it didn’t happen anymore.

It made Halt sad, to see that the girl he once took as apprentice, was now a completely different person. It brought back some other memories, about Will, when he returned from Skandia and was still addicted to the warmweed in a way. Melany was there to help the boy and slowly, he returned, also with the help of Halt and his other friends.

But with Melany, that wasn’t possible. Things were more complicated with her, but he held hope she would recover too.

Several minutes passed before Melany spoke up.

“Thank you, Halt,” she said, her voice barely hearable. She didn’t look at him, just stared in front of her.

Halt simply nodded, but didn’t say anything in return.

Meanwhile, the girl sensed that he did come for a certain reason and she already knew for what. She took a deep breath, in and out. And another one, in and out. She continued this for some time and tried to calm her heart a bit, which wasn’t that easy. Laika, feeling how she began to shake a bit, barked softly and sat up, giving the girl a kiss on her cheek. It distracted her and that was exactly what the wolf wanted to do. Another minute passed by and Melany finally got the words out of her mouth.

“You’re here with a reason, aren’t you?”

Halt was thinking that maybe he should start when he heard the question. Or actually it wasn’t a question, it was a conclusion. Halt slowly nodded and searched for the right words to start, but there was still a lot for him to progress. And then to think I already knew most of the story, he thought.

Eventually, the Hibernian Ranger decided he should just ask her, it would be the best.

“I do. I wanted to ask you-“

He stopped as some Rangers passed by, not far away from them. Melany had frozen to her place, but relaxed as the voices disappeared in the distance.

Halt continued when he was sure no one else was around.

“I wanted to ask… why you never mentioned it.”

Melany had to think about that for a moment, but then looked him in his eyes. The dark eyes that once were so hard to read, had become softer with the time. She had learned to look Halt in the eyes and to read them, to get to know what feeling was behind them.

She looked at them, for the first time since a few weeks, and the only thing she saw, was…

Melany glanced at her lap, tears making their way down her cheeks.

“I never mentioned it, because I thought there was a reason why you never talked about him, about your twin brother.” The last words were difficult to hear, but Halt did hear them. He saw she wanted to say something else and gestured she could continue.

“Besides that, you never seemed to have the need to talk about your past and i-if it’s t-true, what t-they say, then I-I get you never wanted to b-bring it u-up.”

The Ranger looked to the lake, seeing the reflection of the stars and the upcoming moon. “That’s true, but to know that… you sometimes might have wanted to talk about it.”

Next to him, his apprentice shook her head in a more aggressive way than Halt did before.

“I swore to take it with me in my g-grave,” Melany replied, her voice trembling as she talked.

“You fled with a reason and e-eventhough I k-knew some things, I-I could never bring myself to a-ask you, as it’s t-too unbelievable, t-that your t-twin brother-“

And then she couldn’t hold back her tears. She broke down, pulling her knees up, wrapping her arms around them and laying her head on top, her face hidden between her hair and her arms.

He didn’t know what to do, except moving closer to her and slowly, very slowly, laying his hand on her arm. First, he thought she would slap the hand away, but she looked at him, and he saw the pain in her eyes, but also the fear that was there all the time, but behind all those feelings, was something he hadn’t seen in a long time. Trust, in him.

Melany didn’t know since when she trusted Halt enough again to let him hug her, but she let him embrace her. She buried her head in his tunic, making it wet with her tears and the only sound they heard, was her sobbing and the words she mumbled.

They stayed like this for several minutes when Halt talked again. There was no need to hide his accent, not that he could now, but they were alone, so he could freely speak with it.

“Melany, know that I’m grateful for that, but if you ever feel the need to talk about that topic, then you can always come. To bear such a painful event alone is a hellish road, and I can know that.” He broke the embrace and wiped away the tears under her eyes.

“It’ll be alright Mel, I’m here, just as Will is and Gil and your other friends. We’re here to help you out and we won’t leave your side.”

He kissed her forehead and stood up. He knew she would need some time now and he would give it to her.

“Don’t make it too late; today was a busy day, you need your rest, cailín beag.”

Melany nodded and heard how Halt left her alone after being sure she was okay.

However, she stayed longer at the lake, thinking of the talk and what Halt had said. She would need time to let it all sink into her mind, but she would be able to give it a place.

It was past midnight when Melany and Laika returned from the lake. She was cold, shivering as the nights were colder than the days. She had left her cloak in her tent and thinking of it, she was quite tired and wanted to sleep. At the little campsite where she, Halt, Will and Gilan had settled their tents, she saw two persons, one of them laying on the lap of the other, staying warm underneath their cloaks. Coming closer, she saw that Will was resting his head on Gilan’s lap and that the young man had laid his hands on Will’s back.

Gilan opened his eyes as he heard her approaching and that woke Will up as well. The apprentice saw her and smiled.

“We wanted to wait for you, to be sure you would be alright,” he whispered, not wanting to wake Halt up as he would have a night shift later on during the night.

“That’s sweet of you guys, really.” Melany went inside her tent and both Gilan and Will thought she went to sleep, but she came back, holding her bedroll in her hands.

“The night might be chilly, but with three persons, it should be alright.”

Gilan smirked. “That’s true Mel. Will, could you-?”

He hadn’t finished his sentence, or the brown-haired boy had taken out their bedrolls as well, laying them on both sides of the girl.

They all went to lay inside their own, but Will and Gilan shuffled closer to Melany, giving her the feeling she was safe.

It didn’t take long before they all fell asleep, the girl hugged by both the young men. They saw each other as a sibling, given that Gilan was the older brother and that Will came after him and that Melany was the small sister. They loved each other and because of that feeling, that she felt protected by her brothers, the Hibernian girl fell asleep in a peaceful sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> So, it might have been a bit strange to read it out of the blue, without knowing what happened exactly, but I have a reason for that.  
> This moment that y'all just read, will take place in book 3 and althought I have finished books 1 and 2, I didn't had the time yet to translate them to English and publish them.  
> I hope that will happen within some time, but I'm not sure when that exactly will be


End file.
